Apparatus for transporting freight



v Aug. l2, 1930. B. F. FITCH 1,772,939

APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING FREIGHT Filed Aug. 5l, 1928 2 SheStS-Sheef, l

l5 l5 :a/ /C/ un/ @Wonu-11a ug. 12, 1930. B, F, FlTcH 1,772,939

APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING FREIGHT Filed Aug. 51. 1928 2 sheets-sheet 2 Tl er. J' 5 gmvmto of the container corners. This requires the Patented Aug. 12, 1930 -UNITED STATES PATENT ori-fica BENJAMIN E. EITcII, or GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT, AssIGNon. To Moron` TEniIINALs COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION 0F APPARATUS Eon TRANsroRTING FREIGHT Application mea' August ai, 192s. serilai'No. 303,305-,

This invention relates to means for positioning removable containers on 'vehicles adapted to transport them." Heretofore, it has been customary to position the container by means on the vehicle engaging the exterior container to be of materially less width than the overall width of the vehicle, as for instance, an automobile truck. Now, the maximumw-idth of truck or load which may travel on highways is limited by law in most States with the result that such externally engaged container must be narrower than the allowable maximum. AIt is the object of my invention to provide positioning devices carried by the vehicle and adapted to coact with devices mounted within the base frame of the "container, whereby a container may be employed having the full width of the vehicle.

In endeavoring to lower as much as practicable the center of. gravity of a load carried by a truck, I have heretofore devised trucks having their rear Wheels projecting above the top plane ofthe truck frame and have arranged the container so that its Hoor proper is carried in registration with the top of the side and end sills of the container, and

thus the remaining space beneath such ioor proper 'and bounded y the sills is available 'for the projection of the wheels when the sills of the ,container rest on the truck frame. I now propose to avail myself of some of this idle space, bounded by the container sills and beneath the Hoor, for the` "mounting of the container member of my cooperative positioning unit. j .l

The positioning unit.'- coinpri's'es apair of male and female members, and I vPrefer to mount. the male members 'on the truck or vehicle and thefemaleY members on the container adjacent the corners thereof inthe angle where the side and end sills join and beneath the floor proper. The female 'member may thus be very rigidly mounted in place in an idle space in the base of the container and will not project below the side sillsof the container, whereby the latter may stand on an ordinary floor. The cooperating male membei' may be conveniently mounted in the angle between the side and end sills of the truck frame. p As it is desirable also to 'mount the same containers at will on Hat cars, I so form the t female' member in the container that it may coact equally well with a male positioning member carried in the corner ofthe truck frame'as explained, or with a male positioning member secured on top of the floor of the Hat car. Inthe latter case I prefer to pro-t vide such male member with studs which ex" tend downwardly through holes in the ioor and have nuts at their lower ends for locking the member in place.

My invention is illustrated in the drawings hereof and hereinaftermore fully explained, andthe essential novel characterf istics summarised in the claims In the drawings Fig. l'is a side -elevation of a railway flat car carrying two containers,l

such members being equipped with iny positioning devices Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a truck and container together with a suitable hoisting apparatus suspending the container as itis being removed from or placed on a truck; Fig. 3 is a plan of the truck itself;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged verticalsection through ly extending frame b and having rear wheels b1 which extend upwardly through openings inthe frame some distance above it as shown in Fig. 2. C indicates the container shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

As indicated in Figs. 4 and 5, the container C has side sills 10 and end sills 11 which are preferably inwardly facing channel members. The floor 12 of the container is made up of suitable members of materially vless depth than the sills 10 and 11. L These memico 'its edges bers may be wooden planks or they may be o f metal or plastic material or composite. They are indicated in the drawings as woodenplanks. The flooring is formed at to engage beneath the inward flange of the sills as indicated at 13 in Figs. 4 and 5, and such flooring may be supported by angle bars 14 .secured to the webs of the sills, as well as b .cross bars, not shown.

The contalners have suitable side and end walls 15 and 16, which, if desired, may be metal plates overlapping the sills and riveted or Aotherwise secured to them. bracing 17 may be employed. Figs. 1 and 2 show also doors 18 in the side of the containers. These containers have near their upper ends suitable attaching devices indicated at 19 for the attachment of raising cables, two of which cables are indicated at d in Fig. 2 leading downwardliy from a suitable traveling crane indicatel at D.

The 'female members of my positioning combination'are preferably metal blocks 20, each of which has in it a cavity leading upward from the lower face. This cavity is l"of cylindrical form for a material distance as s own at 21 and then conical as at 22 preferably terminating in a dome 23. This block may be 'secured in place by suitable cap screws, bolts or rivets. I have shown cap screws 25 passing througlh the side sill and a cap screw 26 passing t rough atransverse angle bar 27. The exterior of the block may be triangular, in which case, the angle bar 27 will extend diagonally, as for instance at to the side and end sills, and secured .at its ends to such sills. The block 20 may readily be a malleable casting.

The male members are lsomewhat differently constructedaccording to whether they are mounted on the truck or on the railway flat car. For the truck I prefer to employ a triangular block 30 integrallyv carrying the upwardly. ro'ecting member. This member has a cy in rical portion 31 of slightly less diameter than the cylindrical'part 21 of the female member and then a conical portion 32 terminating in a dome-33.

The cylinder and cone portions of the male member may be integral with the block and -the whole member may conveniently be a 4malleable casting. This member occupies the angle at the meeting of the side and end sills of the truck, and may have ya recess 34 whereby 1t may project beneath lthe up er flange of the sills. The lower ace ofthe block may readily rest on the lower flanges of the sills.l The block may be secured in place by cap screws or bolts indicafed at 35 extending through-the webs of the sills. lThe blocks 30 are accordingly rigidly secured in idle spaces within the truck frame and serve to additionally brace that frame.

The male members for the flat car shown at 40 1n Fig. 5 have their projections similar Suitable side l occupy opemngs in the iiat car iioor. To

mount these members it is only necessary to bore holes through the iioor of the iiat car and pass the studs through them, after which nuts 44 are screwed onto the threaded end por-v tions of the studs, preferably against a suitable plate 45. This enables ready placing of the device on an existing flat car or the ready removal of it, should it be desired to use the iiat car for purposes where the upward projections might be inconvenient.

I have found it very convenient in making containers of large size to use channel shaped side sills and end sills 6 in height and to use iooring 2 in thickness, the top of the flooring being in a plane with the top of the sills. This leaves an available space'of 4" beneath the iioor, and in the construction as illustrated in Fig; 4 the block 20 mounted entirel within this space has its cavity of somew at less than 4v in height, the corresponding projection being of the same dimensions. My experience indicates that such height of interlocking engagement is amply suiiicient for ordinary usage.

Should it be desired to have a greater height of engagement than that provided b the proportions of Fig. 4, I may accomplis this without changing the container dimensions but employing such an interlock1ngsills and beneath the floor 12 of the container has the cavity extending clear through it and the available cavity is continued into a portion of the planking 12. This enables the wall 21la to be higher than the wall 21 of Fig. 4, the conical portion 22'L being shown at the same angle as the conical portion 22. When the femalemember is constructed as just described, the male member is correspondingly extended, the cylindrical portion 31L ofv Fig. 6 being cons1derably,higher than the corresponding portions 31 of Fig. 4. The conical portion 32 is shown as of the same proportions as the conical portion 32.

There 1s sulicient clearance between the projections of the male members and the cavities of the female members to allow the readyplacement l of the container even though the truck frame may be warped or 30' in Fig. 3, these members' being secured to longitudinal and transverse truck beams in substantially the samemanner as the corner members. 30. Female members correding of the y otherwise out of true, due to road conditions,

sponding to these members 30E,L may be secured to longitudinal and cross ioor beams in the base of the container.

The additional positioning devices are of an advantage when the truck does not stand strictly horizontal at the time the horizontal body is lowered onto it.- In such case the highest corner of the truck will be first engaged by the body and then the adjacent intermediate positions will properly level the body without waiting for the corners of the opposite ends of the body to become engaged. These intermediate positioners also form a further interlock between the truck and body, holding the latter in place even if one end should be in some accidental operation be jarred clear of the truck member.

1t will be seen that both the male and female members of my coacting positioning device may be very cheaply constructed and readily put inv place; that when in place by reason of the conical form of the male member, it is not necessary to accurately place the container before it is lowered into engagement, but simply to have the entrancey to the female member come somewhere over the cone, the cone acting as a cam to shift the container as it is lowered, then the cylindrical wall of the female member comes into snug engagement with the cylindrical portion of the male member, whereby-the container is firmly held in its final position during the travel of the vehicle. l

My interlocking members do not interfere vin any way with the projection of the wheels above the truck frame into the space within the container sills beneath the floor. The female members do not project beneath the container sills, so that the latter may rest on those sills or elsewhere whenever deposited.

The male members do not interfere withy many other uses of the flat car and truck, but in case of such other use, may, if desired, be removed.

Reference is made to my copending application No. 391,081 filed September 7 1929 for claims on the male positioning device per se.

I claim 1-. The combination 'withia vehicle and a' container, of interlocking positioning devices arranged in pairs and each comprising a male and a female member, one of said members being secured to the container beneath its floor between its 'Hoor sills, the other secured to the vehicle.

2. The combination with a vehicle, of a container adapted to rest thereon and having side sills and a floor, the Hoor being adjacent thertop of the side sills and leaving a space beneath it bounded by the sills, and cooperative positioning devices carried by the vehicle and container, those on the container being located beneath the floor within the boundary of the sills. f

a floor of less depth than the sills, and .blocks mounted in the corner spaced beneath the floor and secured to the side and end sills, said blocks having positioning means adapted to engage with cooperating means on the vehicle.

5. A removable container comprising a base and side and end walls, the base having sills at the sides and its ends, a floor of less depth than the sills and blocks mounted in the four corner spaces beneath the floor, said blocks having downwardly facin cavities adapted to cooperate with upwar y facing projections on a vehicle.

6. A container adapted for mounting on a vehicle and having a base bounded by sills of substantially 6 in depth and having a floor substantially 2 in depth flush with the top of the sills, and blocks of not over 4 in depth secured in the corner spaces beneath the floor and abutting the sills, each block having in it a downwardly facing cavity.

7. A container having base sills and a ioor, there being a space beneath the floor bounded by the sills, and blocks mounted in said spaces adjacent the corner, each block having a downwardly facing cavity the lower portion of which is cylindrical and the upper portion of which is conical.

8. A container adapted for mounting on a vehicle and having a base bounded by sills of inwardly facing channel shape, a floor substantially flush with the top of the sills and of materially less depth, and blocks in the corner spaces beneath the iioor and abutting the sills and projecting between their flanges, each block having in it a downwardly facing cavity, the lower portion of which is cylindrical and the upper portion of which is conical.

9. The combination with a railway fiat car, of a positioning device resting on the floor ofthe car and having in its underside rigid threaded studs projecting through the Hoor, and nuts screwing onto ksaid studs bearing against the underside of the floor.

l0. The combination with a vehicle and a container, of interlocking positioning devices arrangedV in pairs, one member of the secured to the container and the other to the vehicle, four of the pairs being located adjacent the corners` of the vehicle and others of thelpositioning pairs being located intermediate y.4

Y 11. The combination with a vehicle and a container adapted to be removably mounted thereon, of cooperativev positioning devices pair carried by the vehicle and the base of the container respectively, such devicesron the container being all located within the outside boundary of the container, and comprising four devices adjacent the respective corners and one or more intermediately located device.

12. The combination with a container adapted to thereon, of cooperative positioning devices carried by the vehicle and container respectively, the devices carried by the vehicle being male members and the devices on the container being female members carried beneath the ioor and within the outside boundary sills and not projecting below such sills, the cooperating pairs being located not only adjacentthe corners, but

' also in intermediate positions lengthwise of the container loor and corresponding region -of the truck.

13. The combination with a vehicle and a container adapted to be removably mounted thereon and provided with a horizontal floor, of cooperative .positioning devices carried by the vehiclejand the base of the container re- Spectively, the device on the container being located beneath its floor and within the outside boundary of the container and above the bottom plane of the container ioor supports.

14. The combination, with a vehicle having a frame, of a container adapted to rest on said frame and having side sills and a floor which leaves a space beneathA itbetween the sills, into which space portions of the vehicle may project, and cooperative positioning devices signature.

carried by the vehicle and container, those on the container being located in the spacer beneath the floor and between the side sills.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto amg my BENJAMrN if. rrrcn.

n vas a vehicle and be removably mounted the base of the 

